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Comment by catherd | Hacker News Reader

You're right as well :) But I think it's the stuff we did to take it from ESP32+LCD (which there are thousands of) and make it more like a phone are what makes it useful. Not having to build your own power supply and battery charger every time you start a new project is pretty useful. Or a nice enclosure with buttons that work right, feel nice, and are splash proof, etc., etc.

It is technically a phone. Just not one many people would want to replace their smartphones with. Home phone or backup phone maybe. We aren't marketing it as a smartphone replacement. The mobile form factor is useful and not just an evil marketing trick.

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in my mind, calling it a "phone" automatically implies a smartphone replacement, so finding out that it's not does feel like a let-down even if that wasn't your intention.

and yes, the form-factor does make this awesome.

how about calling it a wifi-phone?

it would immediately make the limitation clear and avoid disappointment for those like me who are seeking a replacement for their regular phone.

Well, it is called WiPhone...

There is a pretty clear issue with people getting grumpy once they learn it's not a bleeding edge smartphone. I don't know how to solve it. Open to suggestions, but I think calling it a phone is perfectly reasonable and doesn't imply it's a smartphone. Just because all the big phone makers have sold us the idea that LTE and an OS you can play games on is absolutely essential doesn't mean this isn't a phone.

i meant the reference to a phone as in: WiPhone: A professionally-packaged Arduino wifi-phone or in the tag line WiPhone: An Open Source Wifi-Phone That's Really Yours

the definition of a phone for me is a device that i can use make phone-calls 100% of the time and send sms messages. today that implies cell phone (GSM) support. it does not imply a smartphone, especially not a bleeding edge one, nor the ability to play games. (although games on the arduino are actually possible)

btw: i have been traveling without a sim-card before (because i did not have roaming) and the success of finding wifi was more like 20% rather than 80%. rather frustrating.

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